And I Love You too, Aoshi-sama...
by sulphurage
Summary: How I wished it had/would turn out between Misao & Aoshi.. *sigh. .. : ‘I promised Himura I’d make you smile one day…’


Just a Rurouni Kenshin fic, mainly focussed on Aoshi and Misao's romance

Just a Rurouni Kenshin fic, mainly focussed on Aoshi and Misao's romance. Just how I hope it'll turn out. ^_~Hopefully. Standard disclaimers apply, and these characters do not belong to me, although I wouldn't mind (yAaAaAaa SaNoSukE!!~)

I Love You Too, Aoshi-Sama…

An Aoshi & Misao lurvfic

'I promised Himura I'd make you smile one day…'

Midnight blue slipped silently into endless black, a yawning sky that stretched like velvet, studded with diamonds. Hung upon the star spangled heavens was an eerily beautiful moon. Completely circular, gleaming white with a picture on it no one could decipher. 

A couple, a tall, impressive man who cut a sharply striking figure and a slim, lithe female with long, sleek hair stood in the field. Watching the dirt ground, one could see that brushing against the two silhouettes were shadows of long leaves, stalks of wild grass. 

She shivered in the night chill, he flinched forward only to stop, uncharacteristically, as she retreated a step back. 

  


"Every major decision I have ever made in this life was done with you in my mind."

"Was that supposed to be touching?" she asked, slim eyebrows drawing together as she frowned, confusion on the brink of metamorphosing into insulted annoyance. 

He was so much like the _okashira she had grown up with, the admirable leader who had effortlessly led the Oniwabanshuu from a barely established age of fifteen. In her mind's eye she could see herself withdrawing from the standoff, in such a willing way it was nearly like capitulating, and simply letting things go the way it naturally should: his._

The slightest breath from a passing zephyr bore a distant chill—winter was preparing to invade the land, paint the grounds a shimmering white and strip the trees of green. She inhaled, steeling her nerves as the cold air filled her diaphragm, easing the erratic palpitations of her heart. Gazing into those ebonies of pure blue-black stirring with worry, she wondered if he could hear the hammering in her chest.

If he did then he wouldn't need to ask for answers.

The sight of his glacial, uncomprehending look made the lump in her throat congeal, and without reason, she leant back and sent a staggeringly harsh blow across his cheek.

Rooted in place, the man kept his icily stoic face turned away. 

He could feel the skin grow warm before a stinging sensation overtook the heat and his cheek began to swell. Time took its toll on whatever a person left aside, had discarded at that point of time. The more precious it was; the harder it was to keep. It had almost always turned out that way… But although he believed that to keep one had to give, he never really understood it. 

"No," Aoshi Shinomori replied, turning to look at her. "I said it because I wanted you to know that."

She nodded slowly. 

"Then I would like you to know that, more than anything, I wish for your happiness. You didn't tell me anything…"

He gazed at her frozen, beautiful features, glowing with a pristine hue under the faint moonlight. She'd always been a quick learner, he thought, smiling inwardly. Now she had succeeded in beating him in his own game—setting up a physical shield of an icy expression to deter anyone from reading further inside. 

Yet he was a master in his skills, and he knew how to counter such behaviour. 

"Misao-…"

Going down on one knee, despite the fact that she had already grown taller, he tilted his head back to look into her face. 

It was only then when he saw she was crying. 

Translucent, beautiful coral green eyes shut, lashes fluttering as she murmured, "Why?" A small, cracked voice emerging amidst the cacophony of crickets, the whistling of the swirling winds. Weakened with sorrow, exposed and hoarse, it was worlds apart from the chirpy singsong tones she usually addressed others with. 

"Why did you do all those things?"

He could tell the terrorized memories flooding her mind still induced a tangible fear, a trauma, a horror of the possibility of losing one of her beloved. It was a wretched act, to force a little girl to witness such _evil. _The two most important people in her life fighting to kill each other. Now he understood. Betrayal, fear of loss—unredeemable hurt. 

Bastard…You ought to pay for committing such an act. Even if she doesn't hate you.

Her question hung in the air, and between them the silence was a void—a vacant nothing that was yet so painfully loud. She wanted a reason, something to believe in. 

"What could have been so important…"

_ _

It was true.

There was nothing to say. Revenge? Hate? Denial? Or cowardice? He couldn't explain everything to her, and therefore to anyone; since she would never understand the psyche of a monster, then he would keep her from it. His own mistake that had garnered a permanent incision engraved across the chest, one that served to remind him of good and evil. That was another lesson he had leant, albeit through the hardest way, from a fight against Himura. 

_Protect the ones you love, with everything __you have._

"Gomen nasai, Misao," he murmured, reaching forward to smooth her hair from her face. Closing his eyes, Aoshi swallowed as his mind washed out with a flash of white. 

_Forgive me… _

"Gomen…"

Then he brought her close, cheek to cheek, and steadied her weight as her legs gave way. Both could sense the moisture on their faces but neither could tell who really was crying. _Crying so, _so_ hard_. Gradually her jagged breaths grew calmer, and under his unwavering, warm fingers the clenched muscles along her strong back loosened. 

A new wind blew. 

"Aishiteru."

Large, pooling ultramarine eyes were luminous before a flicker of life sparked within them, and the truth sunk in. Suddenly she jumped on him, pushing him back 

  


rather unceremoniously. Releasing his embrace and landing gracelessly on his back upon the cool grass, Aoshi Shinomori's expression was more of relief than surprise… and a fleeting flash of a genuinely exultant smile. 

_ _

_I did it. You _smiled_—for me. _

_ _

The next moment Misao's lithe arms were around his neck, and her cherubic face was a picture of blithe exultation. Large, exuberant aquamarine eyes dazzled as she laughed, a tinkling sound that carried much suppressed emotion, and even more so a tender note of happiness, a newfound courage.

_Since forever…_

_ _

"I love you too, Aoshi-sama."


End file.
